MLK Day films explore race relations, Durham history

In his vision of civil rights in America, Martin Luther King Jr. emphasized engaging youth as a major part of his message of civil rights.

Because of this vision, Duke's Martin Luther King Jr. Commencement Committee has made its 2008 theme "The Power of Youth."

"When you look both nationally and internationally, the plight of young people is always of concern to people in higher education," said Benjamin Reese, co-chair of the MLK Commencement Committee. "I think this is just a ripe opportunity to mesh that concern with the work and values of Dr. King."

Reese and his colleagues have spent the past seven months working out events for the commencement series. In addition to the cornerstone event-a speech by Children's Defense Fund president Marian Wright Edelman in the Chapel-the committee has incorporated two documentaries into its schedule: Traces of the Trade and Durham: A Self-Portrait.

Traces director Katrina Browne and her cousin Tom DeWolf, author of the related book Inheriting the Trade, visited Duke Jan. 11 to present the film. It follows Browne as she learns her family was one of the most prominent slave trading families in Rhode Island. She assembles a group of family members to retrace the slave trade route from Rhode Island to Ghana to Cuba and back.

"We viewed a few film possibilities and this one presented the rare opportunity to select a film prior to its debut at Sundance Film Festival and to stimulate conversation and dialogue about issues that are often left behind the curtain," Reese said of Traces. "As an educational institution, we owe it to ourselves to stimulate dialogue about a host of issues that are difficult."

Because the film is making its official premiere next week at Sundance, Browne was only able to show clips of the film. Nonetheless, the small audience of Duke undergraduates, grad students, faculty and Durham residents were able to follow the film's story and understand how Browne and her family members reconciled with the guilt they felt towards their family's past.

"It was evil, and they knew it was evil and they did anyway," Browne said at the screening.

The other documentary, Durham: A Self-Portrait, which made its world premiere last November, tells the history of the city primarily as a tale of race relations. Although director Steven Channing explores many avenues of Durham's history, the lens he decided to focus the film through was race, allowing him to combine his academic interests with his filmmaking interests.

"I felt like I had reached a point in my life where I really wanted to do... the stories that interested me. I just thought the Durham story would have all the stuff I found interesting," he said. "I think I always knew the central theme had to be around race. There are other aspects of the story we talk about, particularly the industrial growth, the economic life and something about the politics. You can't get away from the race issue."

Channing incorporates both Duke University and its founding family into the film. He feels the family not only played a prominent role in the city's history, but in positively setting attitudes towards race relations.

The director started the project because of his personal interests but he feels it will remain an important document for future generations as well as current Duke and North Carolina Central University students and Durham residents.

"[The film is] a different kind of voice on campus than an academic voice. We're out here living the real life," Channing said. "I thought that would be different for students than some other expert. I hope students come with an open mind and experience the story as it comes. I hope it encourages conversation dialogue and healing, however that might play out."

Durham: A Self-Portrait will play at 7 p.m. in the Griffith Theater Monday, Jan. 21 and will be followed by a Q&A with Channing and two of the interview subjects in his film. For more information, visit mlk.duke.edu.

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